{Sketches Exclusive} Grace Lee – Week One

I am very excited to kick off the second installment of our Sketches Exclusive series today with freelance illustrator Grace Lee. Originally from Sydney, Australia, Grace currently lives and works in Tokyo, Japan. I can see some of the Japanese influence coming through in her latest drawings, and I love how she playfully captures the smallest details in objects, like the patterns that line envelopes and the decorative borders on a condiment jar, that most people do not notice. It makes you stop and appreciate the things you see everyday. These illustrations were all inspired by patterns around the house; for more information, you can read Grace’s descriptions of each image below. We’ll be sharing more of Grace’s original work in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

Patterns from my electricity, gas, water, and mobile bill envelopes. I’m pretty sure the inside of utility bills back home were white. I don’t even remember keeping them.

I got this top from the local ward office bazaar. It was a lucky find, because the market was being held on the day I just happened to be going to get my resident card renewed. Plus, it was only 150 yen! I love the painterly floral pattern on the black fabric.

I love Japanese packaging. It’s completely different to stuff I’d find back home. I love the small details and unfamiliarity of it all. I really like the little white pattern running across the top of the honey bottle, the ‘coffee art’ markings on these addictive matcha latte chocolate cookies and the cute drawings on these matchboxes. There’s a different animal for each month and they’re all designed in the same way.

I love all of these! All the bright colours, attention to details and just pointing out all the little things. The details are always my favourite part and I’m glad that those are being magnified here.

My goodness, how fun are Grace’s illustrations! I can’t wait to see more of her work and studio space. Japanese packaging is absolutely amazing and fascinating. I think that they have awesome design talent. And for Grace to be in Japan, I bet she’s getting tons of inspiration. I’m hopping over to see more of her stuff. Great post, Anthology! xo